The basketball recruiting class of 2011 lacks the sort of big men and big scorers necessary to make it truly exceptional.

If it is to produce any players who can have the sort of transformative effect on a team that we saw in recent years from Chris Paul or Kevin Durant or John Wall, some players must – either suddenly or gradually -- turn breathtaking potential into extraordinary production.

That’s why Sporting News’ list of the top 10 recruits the 2011 class might look different than some others. Because the best of this group almost certainly is yet to come:

1. Adonis Thomas, 6-5 SF, Melrose (Memphis). No player in the class has as much potential to impact the game in the long term as Thomas, who possesses the kind of size and athleticism at his position that evokes such stars as Vince Carter, Grant Hill and, dare we say, Michael Jordan

Thomas is not as highly rated by others because he has not been statistically overwhelming at the high school level. His high school team, his AAU team and the U.S. junior national team all won major championships with Thomas willing to fill whatever role was necessary. Eventually, he will embrace that it means him becoming a superstar.

He made a step in that direction with the Memphis Magic squad this summer, frequently dominating at the Super 64.

“It was a whole new team with only one returning guy, so I had to lead,” Thomas said. “I know I’ll still have to gain some more weight, work on my outside shot ... I’ve got to get more accurate.”

2. Anthony Davis, 6-10 PF, Perspectives Charter (Chicago). Davis is a defensive prodigy who has the ball skills to become an impossible matchup as a college power forward. He was playing guard as a 6-1 high school sophomore before a growth spurt made him into a frontcourt player – and one of the nation’s elite prospects.

One obvious benefit of his growth spurt, aside from the deluge of big-time offers that led to his commitment to Kentucky last week: “It’s easier to dunk.”

3. Austin Rivers, 6-4 SG, Winter Park (Fla.). Rivers might have the best go-to scoring move of the past decade: a driving right-handed floater he can launch while moving to his left or his right, usually from about 6 feet.

Playing with the USA Basketball U-18 squad at the FIBA Americas championship, Rivers emerged as the team’s primary scoring option even though several players were either college vets or headed there this fall.

“I was one of the youngest kids on the team, yet I was kind of their go-to-guy,” River said. “Just to have the confidence of the older kids, believe in me and tell me to go get the ball, ‘Austin we want you to have the ball at the end of the game.’ A lot of the other guys saying that.”

4. Quincy Miller, 6-9 SF, Westchester Academy (High Point, N.C.). Miller is a loquacious product of Chicago who talks a big game and never backs away from a significant moment. That he made the game-winning 3-pointer for the USA U-18 team in the FIBA Americas championship becomes a good deal less surprising once you’ve met him.

“I just get more confident when I take big shots,” he said. “I’m not scared to take any big shot.”

Miller will be a college power forward because opponents at that level will struggle to cope with his perimeter shooting and his extreme athleticism, but he has the ability to play on the wing as a pro.

5. Michael Gilchrist, 6-6 SF, St. Patrick (Elizabeth, N.J). Gilchrist has been a high school legend since – well, since before he was in high school. Colleges knew about him before he was an eighth grader. His precocity led to him being proclaimed the top player in the 2011 class, and he’s such a terrific kid, an indefatigable worker and an overwhelmingly productive player few analysts feel right about demoting him.

Gilchrist will become an outstanding college player and succeed in the pros, but he does seem to be missing that special talent, that one thing, that would make him a force at the NBA level.

Gilchrist said, “I don’t really care about being the man on my team.” That character trait could help him greatly as he advances in his basketball career.